Baroness Scotland of Asthal: An anonymised copy of the letter of 30 June (FOI 805-05) will be placed in the Library of the House. The Indian authorities agreed in 1998 that a minor would retain his citizenship of India notwithstanding his acquisition, while a minor, of the status of British national (overseas). Their agreement followed lengthy discussions with British officials, in the course of which the statutory provisions for acquisition of the status of British national (overseas) were fully explained.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The correspondence referred to was a single letter sent to us by a member of the public which had originated from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers of Nepal. The enclosures referred to in the letter were not copied to us. An anonymous copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The table below shows the numbers of UK state pensions paid to people residing in countries outside the European Economic Area and with which the UK does not have a reciprocal social security agreement covering uprating of UK state pensions
	
		
			 Country Number of UKstate pensions paid 
			 Afghanistan 1 
			 Albania 9 
			 Algeria 7 
			 Andorra 201 
			 Anguilla 142 
			 Antigua 426 
			 Antilles (Netherlands) 31 
			 Arab Emirates (United) 256 
			 Argentina 238 
			 Ascension Island 5 
			 Australia 236,851 
			 Bahamas 235 
			 Bahrain 64 
			 Bangladesh 2,682 
			 Barbuda 4 
			 Belize 53 
			 Benin 4 
			 Bhutan 1 
			 Bolivia 25 
			 Botswana 131 
			 Brazil 498 
			 Brunei 14 
			 Bulgaria 59 
			 Burkina Faso 2 
			 Burma 3 
			 Cameroon 12 
			 Canada 151,230 
			 Cape Verde Islands 6 
			 Cayman Islands 104 
			 Central African Republic 2 
			 Chad 1 
			 Chile 173 
			 China Peoples Republic 112 
			 Colombia 84 
			 Congo 2 
			 Cook Islands 7 
			 Costa Rica 48 
			 Cote D'Ivoire 2 
			 Cuba 6 
			 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 
			 Djibouti 100 
			 Dominica Commonwealth 1,099 
			 Dominican Republic 35 
			 Ecuador 44 
			 Egypt 156 
			 El Salvador 9 
			 Ethiopia 27 
			 Falkland Islands and Dependencies 38 
			 Faroe Islands 8 
			 Fiji 75 
			 Gambia 76 
			 Ghana 778 
			 Greenland 1 
			 Grenada 1,514 
			 Guatemala 9 
			 Guinea 2 
			 Guyana 438 
			 Haiti 1 
			 Honduras 8 
			 Hong Kong 1,097 
			 India 4,139 
			 Indonesia 86 
			 Iran 15 
			 Iraq 7 
			 Japan 324 
			 Jordan 47 
			 Kampuchea 6 
			 Kenya 593 
			 Kiribati 3 
			 Kuwait 40 
			 Lebanon 59 
			 Lesotho 7 
			 Liberia 2 
			 Libya 2 
			 Macau 10 
			 Malagasy Republic 6 
			 Malawi 86 
			 Malaysia 446 
			 Maldive Islands 2 
			 Mexico 301 
			 Monaco 293 
			 Mongolia 2 
			 Montserrat 143 
			 Morocco 86 
			 Mozambique 3 
			 Namibia 41 
			 Nepal 25 
			 Nevis St Kitts 503 
			 New Caledonia 4 
			 New Zealand 44,965 
			 Nicaragua 7 
			 Niger 1 
			 Nigeria 2,410 
			 Norfolk Island 8 
			 Oman 51 
			 Pakistan 4,969 
			 Panama 21 
			 Papua New Guinea 16 
			 Paraguay 21 
			 Peru 90 
			 Qatar 27 
			 Republic of Armenia 2 
			 Republic of Azerbaijan 2 
			 Republic of Belarus 20 
			 Republic of Kazakhstan 1 
			 Republic of Kyrgyzstan 1 
			 Republic of Moldova 3 
			 Republic of Tajikistan 1 
			 Republic of Turkmenistan 2 
			 Republic of Uzbekistan 2 
			 Republic of Yemen 2,779 
			 Romania 22 
			 Rwanda 1 
			 San Marino 1 
			 Sarawak 2 
			 Saudi Arabia 140 
			 Senegal 7 
			 Seychelles 90 
			 Sharjah 1 
			 Sierra Leone 96 
			 Singapore 279 
			 Solomon Islands 8 
			 Somalia 48 
			 South Africa 36,558 
			 South Korea 14 
			 Sri Lanka 586 
			 St Helena and Dependencies 71 
			 St Lucia 1,370 
			 St Martins 1 
			 St Vincent and Grenadines 812 
			 Sudan 4 
			 Surinam 3 
			 Swaziland 94 
			 Syria 24 
			 Tahiti 2 
			 Taiwan 17 
			 Tanzania 56 
			 Thailand 1,019 
			 The Russian Federation 87 
			 Togo 7 
			 Tonga 10 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 1,257 
			 Tunisia 23 
			 Turks and Caicos Islands 19 
			 Uganda 65 
			 Ukraine 228 
			 Uruguay 33 
			 Vanuatu 21 
			 Venezuela 79 
			 Vietnam 9 
			 Virgin Islands (British) 47 
			 Western Samoa 7 
			 Zambia 178 
			 Zimbabwe 2,809 
		
	
	Source: DWP caseload data—October 2005
	Although most reciprocal agreements provide for payment of upratings, that is not their primary purpose. They are intended mainly to provide a measure of co-ordination between social security schemes to protect the social security of workers moving between the two countries during their working lives. They prevent employees, their employers and the self-employed having to pay social security contributions to both the home state and the state of residence at the same time.
	From 1981 to the present day, successive UK governments have taken the view that no new commitments should be entered into to seek to negotiate new agreements with other countries that would include provision for the payment of social security, benefits to persons abroad, including the uprating of UK state pensions abroad. Most of the UK's existing agreements are in fact consolidations of earlier long-standing ones and were entered into with a view to administrative improvements and efficiencies and also to take into account developments and changes to both countries' schemes over time, rather than to extend the scope for payment of increased amounts of benefits abroad.
	As shown in the table above, the UK state pension is paid to over half a million people residing in over 100 different countries outside the EEA with which the UK does not have a reciprocal social security agreement covering uprating of the state pension. Around 90 per cent of these overseas pensioners reside in Australia, Canada, New Zealand or South Africa.
	Only limited information is available on the rules applicable to the export of pensions from these four countries. Such information as is available is as follows:
	In Australia, the tax-funded, residence-based age pension is payable outside Australia but only if it was claimed while the person was resident in Australia; it cannot be claimed from outside Australia other than from a country with which Australia has a reciprocal agreement. In contrast the UK state pension can be claimed from anywhere in the world.
	In Canada, benefits under the contributory Canada pension plan are payable to people who live outside Canada and are uprated once a year in January. The residence-based, tax-funded old age security pension can be paid indefinitely outside Canada provided the pensioner has lived in Canada for at least 20 years after reaching 18 years of age.
	The arrangements in New Zealand are that the tax-funded New Zealand superannuation is generally payable outside New Zealand at 50 per cent of the rate payable in the country. As with Australia, it is paid only to people who claimed the pension while resident in the country. However, the rate payable to those moving to a country with which New Zealand has a reciprocal agreement will depend on the terms of the agreement.
	There is no universal contributory pension scheme in South Africa. However there are some income-tested social security benefits, including social pensions for the elderly. Payment is subject to a stringent income test, meaning that only those at the bottom of the economic scale are entitled to receive benefits, which are generally uprated once a year, usually in April. The benefits are not payable outside South Africa.
	The table below shows the estimated costs of uprating state pensions paid to people residing in countries where it is not currently uprated.
	
		
			 Year Additional cost of uprating 
			 2005–06 £20,000,000 
			 2006–07 £50,000,000 
			 2007–08 £70,000,000 
			 2008–09 £100,000,000 
			 2009–10 £130,000,000 
		
	
	Source: Forecast expenditure figures based upon DWP retirement pension administrative data, HM Treasury short-term retail prices index forecasts and GAD overseas pensioner forecasts.
	Reliable long-term estimates are not available. However, the costs would increase significantly over future years.